Home made arrows (pictures, video and how to added)

[rmorris]

I made a jig with a router and a drill that cuts dowels or arrows in my case. The only wood I have here that I have heard makes good arrows is Douglas Fir. I am looking to make arrows for my center cut(not center shot) longbow at 45# @ 29". How many rings per In. are there in typical Douglas fir arrows? I also have access to all the woods they sell at you typical DYI store such as maple, oak, and poplar. What wood do you recommend I use besides some straight grained wood? Thank you for your help.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Douglas fir is hard to beat and makes a great arrow.

[Stump73]

Show us your jig you made with directions if don't mind others to build one.
Thanks, Mike

[David Yukon]

I think to make arrow, you have to use riven wood, that means split from the log, not sawn. to ensure that the grain is continues!!
I might be wrong though!

[Brently]

You can make a arrow shaft from cut lumber, if the grain isn't straight, cut the wood to follow the grain, it is best to start with wood that follows the grain as much as possible to avoid  wasting too much wood.  The other woods you listed make good shafts also, just use straight grain and cut to follow the grain and you can make some good shafts.

[rmorris]

David, you had me a little scared and sad at the same time.. but Brently  I am glad to hear what you have to say. I look for lumber that does not have any "v" shapes on the corners. I have started getting good results and hopefully I can break away for a little while and make a video and some pictures of how I did it.

[Mike Mecredy]

Poplar works really well to.  So does pine.  You can follow grain with a bandsaw or even split the sections of boards if you want to go that way. Just avoid having any run outs on the shaft.

[Pat B]

Poplar makes very good arrows.

[magnus]

Poplar is my favorite shaft material.

[David Yukon]

I think to make arrow, you have to use riven wood, that means split from the log, not sawn. to ensure that the grain is continues!!
I might be wrong though!

[Pat B]

David, you don't have to rive out wood to make arrows although that is one option. You can cut 3/8"x3/8" square stock and run it through the dowel maker or just use a small plane to remove the 4 corners, then the 8 corners then sand it until it is round. You do want to start with straight grained wood though.

[Jake Fr]

I have a dowler and think hack berry would make a good arrow but I could be verry wrong

[randy grider]

I'd like to see pics of you're dowelling rig. I'm thinking of building one myself.

[rmorris]

I start off by rough cutting my lumber on the table saw to a square dimension of about .370-.380” . I then run the sticks in the plainer to get an exact dimension of .355” square by about 36”. (.355” by .355” gives you cross sectional length of .5” ) This now fits in a 3/8” drive and you can chuck this in a hand drill. I used a dove tail router bit so that I can change the amount of cut by changing the height of the router rather than using a standard fluted bit and moving the router. I was able to order the ½ and 11/32 drill bushings online and then used a ¾ “ forisner  bit to make a continuous hole in the corrian. (I did make a slight modification to the ¾” forisner bit to make it cut about .002” undersized so I was able to press fit the drill bushings opposed to glue them in).  After everything is set up I just turn the router on and hit the drill full speed and a slow steady feed.

Alright here is a video of my new doweler in action.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTeEcxZI8Go&feature=youtu.be

This first picture is of the entire setup.

 

Here is the picture looking through the ½” drill bushing and into the 11/32” drill bushing.

 

Here is the track out the backside so the arrow does not rattle around at 1000+ RPM

 

Here is a picture of the underside of the jug showing the ends of the drill bushing and the dove tail router bit

 

 Last but not least here is a pic of three simple poplar arrows I was able to finish today (I ran out of feathers)